


Scary and Warm

by luxuryproblems



Category: Lady Bird (2017)
Genre: M/M, Summer Romance, do i know what im doing? no., do i love these two characters with my whole heart? absolutely., im really bad at tags too but we been knew this
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-30
Updated: 2018-01-30
Packaged: 2019-03-11 07:09:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,304
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13519110
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/luxuryproblems/pseuds/luxuryproblems
Summary: Kyle is scary and warm, and Danny likes that about him.





	Scary and Warm

**Author's Note:**

> kyle? bi? it’s more likely than you think. i have this weird idea i’ve constructed in my head that after christine and kyle had their thing going on christine got kyle and danny to hook up during break or something. it's just me wanting my boys to be happy but yeah. i love them. i want everyone in this film to be happy and healthy and this is what danny needs. he needs a boyfriend who genuinely cares about him. plus we have more of an insight to kyle than we do to greg. so, this happened. i'm sorry. 
> 
> greta gerwig thank you for blessing us all with your wonderfully creative characters who have real actual personalities. i love them so much.

Danny knows that Lady Bird is deeply attracted to the long haired bassist at the coffee shop that night. He doesn’t mind that, but what Lady Bird doesn’t know is that Danny feels a very similar, almost identical attraction to him that Lady Bird does. What she doesn’t know wouldn’t kill her, right?

When he notices her attraction to him, he lays off. He has to wait for this one, something he is willing to do, something he expected he’d have to do. He doesn’t mind. 

What he does mind is Lady Bird barging into the men’s bathroom when he has some alone time with Greg. She storms out, along with Julie, and in the moment he’s embarrassed, but he doesn’t know what else to make of it. 

But he knows that for a small girl, Lady Bird has a big mouth. 

Danny and Miguel keep in contact sometimes after that, and through him he finds out where Lady Bird works: the New Helvetia coffee shop. He works out what he wants to say to her, through multiple rehearsals of him talking into his bedroom mirror, freaking out, and then reworking what he thinks he’s going to say. 

He makes one rule for himself. He’s not going to cry.

He breaks this rule. 

When he tells Lady Bird that he’s gay and that he’s genuinely sorry and ashamed about what he’s done, he doesn’t expect the reaction he gets from her. He doesn’t expect a “don’t worry.” He expected a “go fuck yourself” at the very least. And when he cries into Lady Bird’s shoulder and she consuls him, he feels even worse. 

Lady Bird doesn’t go back into the coffee shop for the next hour. She sits on the steps of the back alley and talks to Danny. They talk about something, anything, anything just to help Danny focus on something else. She’s a good listener, something Danny never really realized. 

She tells him about the long haired bassist. His name is Kyle. Danny doesn’t think the name suits him, but at the same time he understands it. 

Lady Bird and Kyle mess around through the next fews weeks before the end of the school year. She loses her virginity to him. She doesn’t tell Danny. She and Kyle plan to go to prom together, but it falls through, and she crosses his name out on her window sill, just like she did with Danny.

When Lady Bird tells Danny that she and Kyle broke up, even though she wasn’t really sure if that could even qualify as a relationship, it’s about a month before the summer. She tells him about the college she’s on the waitlist for in New York. He’s genuinely happy for her. He prays she gets in. 

Danny loves Lady Bird, he truly does. Just not romantically. She’s almost glad it’s not romantic anymore, even though it never technically was. She likes being his friend, a lot actually. She likes it more than when they were dating. They have this weird chemistry together, almost as if they were destined to be friends their whole lives. 

Danny knows that Kyle is bi through Lady Bird, at least that’s what she thinks he is. He’s stated that he’s slept with six people, not with six girls. Though part of her thinks they might mean the same thing, she wants Danny to go for it. Danny doesn’t want to overstep their boundaries of their friendship, such as dating the other’s ex, but Lady Bird genuinely doesn’t mind at all.

“I think you guys would be cute together,” she tells him one day. They’re sitting in the diner, drinking sodas. Danny goes red. Lady Bird laughs at him. 

Lady Bird writes down Kyle’s address on a napkin for him, and he takes it. He’s so grateful for her being supportive. He just wonders if she’s going to tell Kyle he’s going to show up at his house. 

As he thinks this, Lady Bird interrupts his thoughts. “I wouldn’t just show up out of nowhere,” she exaggerates with her hands, “he might be put off by that.” She tells him about “The Deuce,” which makes Danny laugh. She tells him to go with her one day, and that he might be there. He hesitantly agrees. 

Danny is nervous all night. 

Lady Bird has recently gotten her license, and uses her mom’s car to pick up Danny. He’s nervous, and they talk it out. Danny’s nervous about the idea of what if this boy that my ex-girlfriend turned best friend is not into dudes and she just misread him. Lady Bird is good at reading people, but he’s not so sure if this is gonna go well. But, he trusts her and her judgment. 

Danny asks her if she thinks that he’ll like him. Lady Bird laughs, “Danny, who doesn’t like you?” 

They pull into the parking lot and they see this group of punk looking kids are sat in the middle of the lot. Sat on the top of the hood of a car, smoking something is Kyle. Danny is almost mezmorized. Lady Bird snaps him out of it and he blinks, hard. 

It’s at this moment she realizes Danny is wearing a half-zip sweater, and looks completely out of place. She smiles at him, zips his sweater open all the way to the halfway point, and tells him, “Looks a little less Catholic school and a little more public school dropout.” She smiles at him again. 

Danny isn’t completely sure what it means, but trusts her in that it’s good. 

Lady Bird gets out of the car and shuts the door loudly. Danny sits in the car still and Lady Bird waves to Kyle. He gives a barely half wave. He knows they ended on weird terms, but they didn’t end on bad terms. Lady Bird looks at the passenger’s side of the car, looks Danny in the eye, widens her eyes and mutters a quick, “Get out of the car!” 

Danny gets out of the car after this phrase from Lady Bird, and dusts off his jeans. They’re blue, and they’re a little baggy on him. He thinks he looks nice, Lady Bird called him cute when he got in the car, he is set on thinking he looks fine. 

Kyle is looking at Danny, Danny is looking at Kyle. Lady Bird is looking at both of them and smiling. “Come on!” Lady Bird whispers to him and walks by his side. Danny is nervous, clearly, but Lady Bird helps him calm down. She rubs his shoulder, he smiles at her, and they walk over to the group of punk kids sat in an almost perfect circle. 

“Hey guys!” Lady Bird says casually. She doesn’t really know anyone here other than Kyle. She knows Jonah, but only through Jenna. She doesn’t have a history with anyone else other than Kyle. 

Kyle looks at her and gestures his head towards Danny, “Who’s this?” 

“This is Danny! He’s cool.” Lady Bird tells them. 

Danny gives a small, almost awkward wave to the group, and gives a shy smile. Kyle smiles at him. Kyle scoots over on the car hood and points at Danny, then points next to him. Danny blinks hard again. Lady Bird pushes him gently on the back towards him, and she sits on the black top. 

Danny hoists himself on the car hood and Kyle looks at him with a smile. Danny smiles back and turns a soft red in the cheeks. Danny looks down at the pavement to try to get the flush to go away. Kyle looks over at Lady Bird. He mouths to her, “Available?” 

Lady Bird nods enthusiastically. She read him correctly, he does like dudes. She loves playing matchmaker for her two ex-boyfriends. 

Kyle, in a swift movement, puts his hand on Danny’s shoulder. “So,” Kyle asks him. Danny turns his head to him. “Who are you?”

Danny gives a chuckle and Kyle smiles at him. Danny goes on about what he’s like, includes the part that he’s gay (something he didn’t envision doing, but he feels very safe here), and talks about his past with Lady Bird, which makes her laugh. 

They stay in the Deuce for another hour, before Kyle says to Danny, “You wanna get out of here?”

Danny and Lady Bird lock eyes. Lady Bird mouths, “Do it,” to her friend. 

Danny doesn’t think anything is going to come out of this. They might just talk and hang out at his place or something. “Yeah, why not,” Danny says. Kyle smiles, gets off the hood of the car, and opens the door for Danny. Danny almost swoons right there for him. 

When Danny gets into the car, he and Lady Bird look at each other as she walks backwards to her car. She gives him a thumbs up and he returns the gesture. Kyle gets into the car, smiles at him, and they drive in near silence. 

The radio plays some sort of alternative song that Danny’s never heard, but he focuses on how Kyle drums the beat with his fingers on the steering wheel. He thinks it’s interesting, how he does this little almost nerdy thing in this private part of his life in his car. It makes Danny smile. 

It sets in suddenly that he is in the car with a boy he’s known for about an hour. Somehow, he doesn’t feel off about this idea. In fact, he feels pretty good. 

They pull into Kyle’s driveway, and there’s another car next to his. Danny doesn’t know much about cars, but the car looks nice, also a bit old. “Hey,” Kyle snaps him out of his daydream, “You comin’ up? I’ll take you home later, if you want. I know Lady Bird drove you and everything.” 

Danny realizes he has the napkin with Kyle’s address on it in his back pocket. “Oh, uh, yeah. That would be nice, thank you.” 

Danny throws the napkin away when they pass by his kitchen. 

Kyle and Danny sit in the long haired boy’s bedroom on his bed. It’s very comfortable, not awkward at all. They laugh and smile with each other. They connect really, really well, and they have fun dialogue that makes them laugh. 

It’s eight o’clock before either of them realize the time. Danny doesn’t know if he should leave, and Kyle doesn’t want him to leave. They stay relaxing on Kyle’s bed. Kyle has his arm wrapped around Danny, and rubs his thumb on his jaw. Neither of them know if they should take this any further.

So they don’t.

They lay in bed and enjoy each other’s company. Danny tells Kyle stories about doing theatre and makes him laugh with these dramatic stories of people getting hurt during performances. Kyle tells Danny stories about the band and conspiracy theories about how the government is controlling all their movements. These make Danny laugh, but Kyle isn’t sure why.

“Do you think I should get going home?” Danny asks Kyle. It’s nearly ten o’clock, and Kyle doesn’t want Danny to leave. He likes to feel content with Danny.

Danny found Kyle to be scary and warm, but he likes that. He’s scary because he’s this punk looking kid who believes all these weird conspiracy theories, but he’s warm because he has this genuine good heart. 

Kyle drives Danny home, and the same alternative song plays on the radio. Kyle drums the beat again, and Danny keeps watching him. He smiles almost too wide and hurts his cheeks. 

They pull up in front of Danny’s home, and they look at each other. Danny looks back at the house and sees that the only light on is in the living room, but the curtains are closed. “Thanks for the night, Kyle,” Danny tells him. He fiddles with his fingers. 

In a flash of maybe two seconds, Kyle has the side of Danny’s face in his hands and kisses him. The kiss is hard but almost loving. Danny’s hand goes to Kyle’s chest and clutches his slightly worn and torn shirt. Kyle’s hand goes into Danny’s hair, and their lips move together and fit together like puzzle pieces. They pull away and Danny smiles hard. He’s bright red. 

“Give me your hand,” Danny says. Kyle furrows his eyebrows but gives over his hand. Danny finds a red thin Sharpie in the center console of the car, takes off the cap with his teeth, and writes his number on Kyle’s hand. He draws a small heart at the end of the number along with his name. 

Kyle smiles and when Danny closes the marker, Kyle leans in and kisses him one more time. This time it’s soft and loving. 

Danny says a quiet, “Goodbye, Kyle,” and steps out of Kyle’s car. He bends over once he’s out of the car to look in through the open window. He waves and whispers another, “bye,” to him. 

Kyle says to him, “Bye, Danny. I’ll call you tomorrow, ‘kay?” Danny nods and waves once more. Kyle stares at him and cannot help but think that this boy is adorable.

Kyle waits to pull back into the street until Danny gets into the house. 

Danny says a quick, “I’m home!” to his family, who are seated in the living room. 

“Oh, Danny,” his mother says from the couch, “your friend Lady Bird called earlier. She asked me to tell you to call her back when you got home.”

Danny thanks her and runs up to his room, and sits by the wall with the phone on it. He calls Lady Bird back and fiddles with the phone wire around his fingers. She answers after two or three rings. She immediately says, “Tell me what happened!” 

Danny tells her everything.


End file.
